Bruce Rector (pictured above) is the author of The Monday Morning Message.  I am a big fan of Bruce and his online newsletter.  Here is a sample issue. 

Enjoy,

Mike

 

The Monday Morning Message
Connecting Leaders
March 20, 2000

It is not enough that you form, and even follow the most excellent rules for conducting yourself in the world; you must, also, know when to deviate from them, and where lies the exception.
- Lord Greville

I have flown on hundred of airplanes and I generally don't think too much about dying in an airplane crash. Still, there have been several times when the pilot began to change the flight pattern, and the plane made a sudden change of direction in mid-flight without any warning or explanation, that I've given serious thought to wearing adult diapers on future flights.

When I am on the ground, I know that the percentage of flights that end in a crash is statistically insignificant. But when I am actually on the plane any percentage chance of a crash become pretty statistically significant to me.

Its not that I don't trust the pilots, I just don't like not being able to see what is going on in the cockpit. And even worse than not being able to see the cockpit, I figure that if something really bad is happening, the pilot is not going to have time to keep the passengers up to date on his frantic efforts to save the plane.

I have decided that maybe if I learn more about what goes on behind the cockpit door, it might help me get through those sometimes tough and turbulent flights. So when a plane crashes, I read about the following investigation.

About two weeks ago I read a story in the Wall Street Journal about the investigation into the crash in January of an Alaska Airlines plane near Los Angeles. Apparently the Alaska Airlines crash was similar to the 1998 crash of a Swissair flight off the coast of Nova Scotia in at least one respect: in both crashes the pilots had an opportunity to land the plane as soon as they detected problems, but instead of landing right away, chose to try to fix the problem first in the air. In each instance, shortly after the pilots finally gave up and decided to try to land, the plane nose-dived into the ocean, killing all the people onboard.

I was surprised to read in the article that pilots are actually taught to not land the plane when they detect problems, even serious problems, while in flight. The actual rule is to try to fix the problem in the air first and to only land the plane as a last resort. And perhaps most surprising of all, the pilots in these two crashes aren't now being second-guessed because they didn't follow the rules, they are being second-guessed for not breaking them.

Teaching pilots when to break the rules is no easy task. One expert says that it is impossible to simulate what a pilot goes through when he experiences problems with the plane while in flight. You can teach a pilot all the rules you want, but the expert says that in difficult situations, the best the airlines can do is to just hope that their pilots exercise good judgment.

As individuals, organizations and businesses we also want to have rules and procedures for our own peace of mind and security. While rules can provide us with a general roadmap to success, we can also become so reliant upon rules as a "safe harbor" that we use following them as an excuse not to think. We want everyone in our organization to use good judgment, but it simply won't happen unless we spend as much time teaching ourselves and others how and when to break the same rules that we generally want to follow.

Are you spending money and time today training yourself, your team, your organization and your children to memorize policies, procedures and formulas that may soon be obsolete or that already don't apply in all situations? Are you giving yourself and others around you the kind of diversity of education, training and experience that leads to the use of good judgment in all situations even if it means occasionally breaking the rules? Think about your own continuing education and the training that you provide to others and ask yourself whether you are developing robots or thinkers?

In today's ever-changing environment, robots made of steel and wires will perform routine tasks and can be reprogrammed faster and cheaper than human robots of flesh and blood. The real value you want to create in yourself, your team members and your organization is to make every effort to become thinkers that are not afraid to deviate from the rules when their best judgment tells them it is the right thing to do. 

Rules are an important part of every society, business, organization and family. Anarchy and chaos would often take place without them. But history is full of instances where men and women chose to do the right thing and break rules and as a result saved lives of people and organizations.

This week give thought to what would happen if you, your team, your employees or your children were left alone in the cockpit and asked to pilot themselves, others, your business or organization to safety under difficult circumstances. Focus on what you can do to give them the experience, confidence and good judgment to guide themselves and others to a safe landing even if it means breaking the rules.

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The Monday Morning Message is written by Bruce Rector (all rights reserved) and sent each week to business, community and government leaders in over 76 countries around the world. If you want to be part of the original mailing list, please send your request to tazewell@concentric.net or visit www.olofactor.com.